Research firm Strategy Analytics has announced its smartphone market share numbers for Q3 2012. The numbers show that Samsung Galaxy S III overtook the Apple iPhone 4S to become the world's best selling smartphone for Q3.

Samsung shipped 18 million Galaxy S III smartphones during Q3 of 2012. The quantity of units shipped gave Samsung's smart phone 11% of the smartphone market globally. Strategy Analytics attributes the Galaxy S III's large touchscreen and extensive distribution around the world along with generous operator subsidies as the main reasons for the smartphones success.

Apple shipped 16.2 million iPhone 4S smartphones, giving it second place in the global smartphone market. Much of the reason that the iPhone slipped from the top spot was because consumers were holding off to purchase the anticipated iPhone 5 at the end of Q3. Apple shipped 6 million units of the iPhone 5 in Q3 of 2012 with very little time on market.

The total number of smartphones shipped in Q3 of 2012 added up to 167.8 million.

The Samsung Galaxy S III grew its market share significantly between Q2 of 2012 and Q3 growing from 3.5% to 10.7% of the global market. Comparatively, the iPhone 4S slipped from 12.7% of the market in Q2 of 2012 to 9.7%. The brand-new iPhone 5 grabbed 3.6% of the market.

However, the research firm expects the win for Samsung to be very short-lived. Strategy Analytics says that it expects the iPhone 5 to out ship the Galaxy S III in Q4 2012 allowing the iPhone to regain the title as the world's most popular smartphone.

I see Apple is still crushing the competition. Samsung beat out an old iPhone pretty much due to the fact people were holding off on their purchases and waiting for the NEW iPhone. Now watch how Apple crushes those Samsung numbers in Q4/12 with the new iPhone 5. But maybe it won't be SO bad given that Apple is having problems keeping up with demand, something Samsung doesn't have to worry about. :P

Android "marketshare" is completely irrelevant. Apple ONLY sells the iphone which are not cheap phones. Android is software, and only software. Any phone from the super cheap to the premium offerings like the GS3/note2 can be loaded with it. So a Chinese knockoff of an iphone runs Android and thats counted as marketshare towards Android. If you want an apples to apples comparison, compare the iPhone 4s/5 to the GS3/note(2) and pull numbers strictly from that. In some sort of an analogy, its like saying if you combine all the wins from every football team vs the wins from just the Giants, the other teams are better because they have more combined wins.

In this case History is deemed to repeat itself as Apple was in the same situation but up against Microsoft and the PC OEMS and they lost that battle hard.Might happen again, might not, but time will let us know in the end. :)

Are you sure they lost that battle? They were far behind for a long time, yes, but seeing how Apple has been slowly outgrowing other PC manufacturers in terms of marketshare and sales growth, quarter to quarter and year to year, I wouldn’t exactly call it a loss. And even before their marketshare started rising again they were enjoying pretty healthy margins (as they still do), which makes their business less suspectible to crumble even if they have a bunch of really shitty quarters or a year or two even. They don’t need to sell as many devices to stay in the game.

Samsung seems to be the only company that’s able to keep pace with Apple in terms of profits. And even that is only an assumption, seeing how they refuse to release actual numbers (as does amazon with the Kindle Fire).

If PC history should indeed repeat itself with smartphones and even tablets, Apple has nothing to worry about.

Why? Their stock price is based entirely on revenue. Apple actually has the lowest price multiple of those companies you mentioned, AAPL being the most undervalued and GOOG the most overvalued. The only bubble out there among giant techs is Amazon with their ridiculous PE of 3000.

Belief has nothing to do with anything, it is all based on hard metrics like PEG ratios, revenue, and price multiples. If AAPL was priced like GOOG, a company with lower YoY growth and revenue, then it would be about $900 a share right now.

Nothing ever goes up in a straight line. Right now weak longs that bought at the top are being shaken out. Technical corrections are common; the exact same thing happened when it first hit other psychological levels like $200 and $600.

Basing "value" on opinion like it seems as though you are doesn't have any bearing on reality. A correction will be meaningless until Apple stops making revenue, and that isn't happening anytime soon.

APPL's current price is based on current earnings (basically profit per share). However, unlike the other companies in the top-10 (mostly oil companies and banks), they're not selling a consumable commodity. With a consumable, as long as people keep driving cars or spending/making/borrowing money, your profits are safe. And with a commodity, you do not have to improve the product year to year.

Apple is selling durable goods. A bit towards the soft end (lifespan of a few years vs. 10+ years for a washing machine), but still durable goods. That means in order to maintain that stock valuation, they have to keep designing new products and people have to want those new products as much as they wanted the old ones. Any misstep and their profit (and stock valuation) plummets.

If Apple is smart, they will diversify now. Take that huge cash reserve and start up mini Apple divisions making all sorts of different products. Some will fail, some will succeed. The key is to broaden their revenue and profit base to insulate themselves from a slip-up in their bread and butter products (current iPhone and iPad).

If they pull inward and decide they want to concentrate only on a few products like they did in the Mac days, then they're going to end up a bit player like they did in the Mac days. I was already seeing signs of this - Jobs insisting that he'd only make a 9.7" tablet and a 3.5" phone. If he had stayed alive, 5-10 years from now Apple would've been the little company which made the best 9.7" tablet and a 3.5" phone, but too bad only 5% of the market bought those exact sizes.

The iPhone 5 and iPad Mini are good steps to stave this off. So is designing the A6 SoC in-house instead of buying it from another manufacturer (if your retina displays are made by Samsung, there is nothing stopping your competitors from putting it in their products). But they need to diversify more. Expecting the market to bend its desires to fit your concept of the single best product is not a good strategy for long-term success. The market determines the product it wants, not you.

you need to get your head checked, so delusional! no, sorry it doesn't work that way. you may wish that in your fantasy world of apple. let me guess you probably pride yourself because you're carrying the iphone 5 with the biggest GBs. unfortunately you count all iphone's in use against all other forms of cellphones. Android globally has you beat 5 to 1.

NEWS Flash, apple only appears to be a premium phone by its outer shell, using metal and glass as a thin outer layer doesn't make it a premium headset. Let's dig down into the apple product. Retina display, samsung produced and distributed within China to be constructed. All the Chipset from gpu/ cpu to other components like mics and speakers dirty cheap chinese parts put together by child labor and slaves of the system that work on a dime a day and locked under key, safety nets outside the window incase they commit suicide under the pressure. A good fraction of that Iphone is labelled as Samsung components. so apple hands Samsung directly Billions of dollars to product apple success in the western society. So Samsung paid back a few years of profit it made off apple. Iphone 5 users are bias, and self loathing; it's sick. there must be a cure. snow white got a chance. old times though in monarchy, a new age prince came to save your poisoned minds named android.

The Note 2 is a tad more expensive than the iphone 5 but it makes applesauce in its innovation and power. Stop being dumb with which apps opens the fastest test, its lame as hell. Suing in court was LAME too, "you copied our iphone which has a square base with round corners. Apple won to a crowd of jury no technical or education of patent laws. One of jurors withheld his involvement for investments in apple. the whole case was hilarious, it's like making the same argument that car manufacturers can't product 4 wheels and a steering wheel. then sue for billions for all the loses of sales. Let's admit apple hasn't been innovative in years, well since the first iphone, just cheap upgrade!

google is years ahead with amazing ideas for the future. If Andriod didn't come to the scene, Apple products would still be at a creeping slow pace one phone every 2 years, just a platform for music, phone calls and ios exclusive apps.

Android OS wasn't even distributed for another year and a half after iphone debut, yet the pace of the operating system and hardware has blown the seeds out of that apple to try and keep up with technology, or apple's latest scheme to hold back android with red tape and lawsuits. except Samsung isn't stopping, blow after blow chipping away Apple's share. there's an endless product line to be unveiled by samsung in the next year that are designed to lure apple fans away. Samsung is designing phones people want; rather than be told by the producer what they're going to get in the next installment. that's why you're an isheep! Apple has pushed you face first towards the edge of a cliff, with your back legs hook to them, while you get railed from behind so ever gently. Even Nokia and HTC teamed up with microsoft to take a chunk out of apples share.

GOOGLE, INC purchased Motorola Mobility for the hardware copyrights and patents, so no sir you're incorrect, its both an OS and hardware. Both Apple and Google have partners licensed to construct their products, foxconn and samsung; Google/motorola has HTC, Samsung, LG, then cheaper mid-entry manufacturer. debunk your debate right here, because you can't excluded Google's successful business model to get their devices to the poor folks. Windows won that war two decades ago against Mac, and Steve Jobs was complaining back then too. Apple's IOS is just a glorified Application Draw with zero customization ability with a wallpaper backing and icon replacement. boring. apple's has its ONLY strong point, the "apps" and ecosystem. guess what android has the same crap now too. ecosystem, isn't google gaining ground in their own ecosystem? i believe that painful jump to the new pin connector could be a gamble for apple.

you want to compare that iturd to GS3 or Note 2 in sales, based on your debate iphone is premium, but its not. please explain how? lets not count those cheap mid-entry android phones, but because apple put on a $600 price tag on the iphone 5 then it must be premium. no, just a premium rate for idiots to pay. Iphone 5 doesn't do as much, its old news and tweaked old technology to milk you suckers into another tiring same phone. same formula, a new a6 chip and an awkward 3.6 inch screen that got an inch added to the bottom, and a lighting connector. totally worth $600 because its metal and glass casing. oh is ios 6, oh my god. how can i live with the slide down notification bar that was stolen from android, but wait google didn't sue, sue, or sue. i wonder why, hmm because their not scumbags. panorama mode old technology, Android 4.2 innovates that into 3D world photo now. In one year, we'll see what you'll be using for a device

Certainly. The bulk of Android handset sales are cheap low end devices. Cheap or free phones like the ones you can grab at Boost Mobile or in developing nations are very popular, but they are not in the same class as something like the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy S3.

Usage numbers make this even more clear. The bulk of Google's mobile revenue, over half of smartphone web traffic, and the bulk of app downloads and profit, all come from the iPhone despite it being only a fraction of the market. Low end Android hardware isn't going to see much "smartphone" use.

Android has the majority of the smartphone market, there is no question of that. That number also mainly consists of low end devices, which is something that many people here seem to ignore. I'm ok with it either way, it has no effect on the superior quality of the iPhone 5 hardware and the iOS ecosystem. Its the same reason I don't care that PC games are far behind console games in sales; it doesn't change the fact that PC gaming is better in the ways that I value. Popularity is only valuable in terms of receiving third party support, like how WP should have a better ecosystem (great SDK and a marketplace that protects developer profits) but low user numbers are holding that back. As long as a platform is profitable enough for third parties, then overall popularity doesn't really matter.

I'd be curious to see a comparison limiting things only to the high end. The 4S moved 30 million units in less time than the S3, the old 4S sold less than 2 million fewer units than the S3 in the same time period (surprising), and the iPhone 5 is selling about twice as fast as the 4S.

Please, I like how the Android boneheads like skew the numbers. Let's compare apples to apples (no pun intended). Comparing every junk phone you can install an Android OS on to a SINGLE iPhone is not an apples to apples comparison. You can ONLY get iOS on an iPhone, so there is no point comparing OS sales numbers. Well, unless you just want to mislead people.

If you want a TRUE comparison, compare ANY Android phone model to ANY iPhone, and let's see how those numbers look.

You cant compare Apples to Apples because Apple has only 1 model. Android is so much more than that. That is Androids strength. At this point, with Jelly BEan it is a far better OS and those 2 facts are why is is outselling iPhone 5 to 1. That was 2.5 to 1 last year, 4 to 1 earlier this year and will be 7 to 1 by the end of next year. Android is sprinting while IOS stagnates. Deal with it.

Someone should tell Apple, as they like to report iOS activations, which also include iPad. Also, there is not only one iPhone model. Right now, you can buy 3. iPhone 5, iPhone 4S on discount and iPhone 4 on BOGO or free offers.

You act like this is your life. I find it quite pathetic when people have to align themselves so much with a product or ideal because they have no self worth. In reality, can't you be happy for yourself and those that make a different choice than yours.

Samsung is but one of many Android phone makers and the GSIII is but one of many Samsung Android phones.

Apple is getting crushed not matter how you slice it.

Why the F do you think they are suing everyone on the planet right now??? Apple is loosing its grip big time. Heck they have already gone against several things they claimed were not good and/or unecessary (larger phone, 7 inch tablet). Without Steve its only going to get worse and at a rapidly accelerating pace.

If you were half as intelligent as me, you'd understand that a graph showing Android sales vs iOS sales, is a graph showing OS sales vs phones sales which is absolutely meaningless, and I might add moronic. But what else is new, Droid fans normally have a problem seeing clearly through their anti-Apple hate goggles.

The MOST important thing is that as consumers, there is freedom of choice for us. Apple is working very very VERY hard to eliminate that....and noting pisses me off more than someone trying to limit/control my choices/decisions. If at the end of the day, my only options were a flip phone or an Iphone. I'd take the flip phone now and forever. That's my personal choice as I choose not to join Apples collective and be limited by Apples walled garden ecosystem.

For the Apple fans, have at it...Your free to buy each generation of their phone you want. Just have the maturity to respect the fact that others are not choosing to follow Apple or You.

Best wishes on YOUR freedom to choose. Just respect others freedom to take a different path.

Android users...You will never win an argument when it comes to the cult followers, so its best to ignore the trolling remarks. It's always best to turn the other cheek and just avoid/walk past when you know it will just be a waste of your time..

Yup... It will be the top selling single model of phone, no doubt. Of course having only one phone will do that.

If that one phone with its tiny little non-HD screen, lack of removable battery, SD card, micro-usb, plug and play as a flash drive, NFC works for you its a good phone. As for the vast majority of people, we want something better.

I like how you have stopped making points though. Its pretty clear Android is pulling ahead isnt it? :P

Wait another 6 months and see. There will be a whole slew of new phones, newer faster chips and Apple will still be sitting on its itty bitty lil iPhone5 with an iPhone 6 of the same size and res 6 months away, coming with IOS7 that looks nad act the same as IOS3 did.

When did I stop making points here? I made several posts here talking about differences in performance, how Android numbers are boosted by cheap and free handsets to the poor in the US (Boost and Virgin Mobile) as well as in developing countries, how S3 sales were barely higher than an iPhone from a year ago, and how the bulk of mobile traffic and dev revenue comes from iOS despite having only a fraction of the smartphone market.

Other people here also pointed it out, but it seems strange to boast superior numbers when it mainly comes from trash hardware that doesn't get used in the same way as the iPhone or the Galaxy. We'll see how long it takes for the high end of the Android market to exceed iOS, it seems inevitable, but right now it has a ways to go.

Numbers mean little to me otherwise. Console games outsell PC games by a substantial margin, but that doesn't change my opinion that console games are generally inferior and I don't care for most of them. And if there's a good console port I'll just play it from my PC to my HDTV instead of from my XBox or PS3.

So long as PCs have better performance and better games, that's all that matters to me. Its the exact same thing with the iPhone, as long as it has better hardware (and the iPhone 5 is substantially better than the S3 in performance, LTE browsing battery life, and display quality) and better developer support, that's all that matters to me, even if it has fewer numbers out there. Do I really care that billions of others use the same things I do? Of course not. Obviously if I wanted a larger screen then I'd go the other way, but the tradeoffs aren't worth it for me, plus I like it to fit in my pocket easy. :)

Outnumbered 7 to 1, eh, I don't care so long as the hardware and ecosystem are still superior. If I only cared about popularity I'd have switched over to consoles years ago.

I dunno. I see your point, but IOS just bores me to tears. Android really is well beyond it at this point and like I said, they are WAY out developing IOS. Android is growing and just hitting its stride... Apple is stagnating and you know it.

You can't possibly think that the S3 outselling the iPhone isn't impressive. With all the other options, with dozens of other models available, one single model outsold the iPhone. That says a lot.

quote: You can't possibly think that the S3 outselling the iPhone isn't impressive. With all the other options, with dozens of other models available, one single model outsold the iPhone. That says a lot.

In one quarter, against a year old device, in a period filled with iPhone 5 rumours and customers waiting, no, it isn't particularly impressive. If they outsold the iPhone 5, that would be impressive.

You act like the iPhone doesn't have to compete with exactly the same phones that the SG3 does. Do you think that just because the other phones are Android that they aren't competing with the iPhone? Or, are you simply saying that Apple has it easy because they're the ones who created a unique selling point in their own ecosystem - something which would increase their achievement, not diminish it?

Lets be real, despite having fewer sales, Apple is raking in 70%+ of the entire smartphone industry profits. Anyone can give devices away at cost (Nexus 7, 4, cheaper Android handsets) - that isn't impressive. The popularity of Android isn't manifested in developer interest because the majority of users who buy Android are on the lower end of the spending spectrum. So what is the point in you boasting about Android outselling iOS? It has no tangible benefit to you at all, and Android isn't even a company, or owned by anyone. Apple owns it just as much as anyone else. If anything, all it means is that Android is the sheeps common choice.

iOS has been more stagnant than Android but that's predominantly because Android had a lot of catching up to do. Perhaps it has taken the lead temporarily but the shake up of directors at Apple may see them taking the software 'battle' back to Google too.

I really don't care about apples profits. I am a consumer not an investor, I care about product and features and the iPhone is falling short, missing too many features and the OS has been bested and left in the dust. No, its Apple that has catching up to do with its OS. I think you already know that.

Yup... If you were an investor and had invested several years ago, Apple is great. If you are a consumer looking for the best products and prices... Not so much. Paying more nad getting less is not good for the consumer. Great for the investor though. ;)

quote: That's all they got, profits and money. Not much else it seems.

quote: I really don't care about apples profits. I am a consumer not an investor, I care about product and features and the iPhone is falling short, missing too many features and the OS has been bested and left in the dust. No, its Apple that has catching up to do with its OS. I think you already know that.

Neither profit or sales have anything to do with the end product. And the advantages / disadvantages of iOS vs Android are debatable.

You say you don't care about apples profit. Well I say I don't care about Samsung's sales.

But ask Samsung what they care more about, sales or profit. They will say profit all day long. As will any company.

So either we talk on a company level at which point profit always wins out. Or we talk as consumers in which case both are irrelevant.

Uh... you brought up profit, not me. I care about features and price like any consumer, and as I said, apple lacks in those areas. I don't care about Samsung either. I am liking Android these days because today, its the best OS with the best phones by far. The new LG opti, and HTC DNA look amazing. A bunch of other 5 inch 1920x1080 models on the way too. And anyone that says IOS6 is better than Jelly bean is a flat out liar. Next year, who knows? But today Android is where its at. That's it and that's all.

The S3 outselling it is impressive, but context in time is important too. It was against an old model, and it wasn't by that big a margin. I do think that Samsung needs to release a new phone quickly though, one that improves battery life and the display. Right now those are the main hardware issues I have with the S3 relative to the iPhone (pentile display and half the battery life browsing with LTE).

As for the OS, the UI not really changing isn't my biggest problem, it is silly skeumorphic designs in some of the apps like calendar and podcasts (reel-to-reel tape, seriously). It is corny as hell, but with Forstall out of the picture and Jony Ive taking over UI design there should be much greater unification with the sleek design of the hardware the software.

And as for things getting stale, since when did a UI updating every year become an important thing? I've been fine with my desktop operating systems being pretty much the same for over a decade, so I get people getting "bored" with phone UIs every year. If swapping UIs more often meant something to me then I'd have already moved my main Windows partition over to Windows 8 (btw, I'm not, haha).

There is no question that Android OS and hardware are both improving quickly, but it is still in catch up mode. Perhaps in another year or two a switch will be worth looking into, but right now the compromises in performance, app selection, display quality, battery life, and build quality are too much for me in order to gain other things (SD card, keyboards, swappable battery).

Completly agree, after Steve left, they went ballistic with Cases all over the world, they even got some phones banned in Germany, and screwed over HTC in the beginning. But some judges see the right path and throw the case out. Or even in Britain's case, Force Apple to write an Apology letter and post on there main EU website that Samsung did NOT copy any of there features.

The problem for Apple is that, if they want to remain on top, they have to find the next "cool" product and develop an innovative software to go with it. The Iphone / Ipad are simply getting boring. Not to the eye, as they are still fine looking devices. But as far as the OS goes, there is little innovation and it struggles to keep up with Android. Unfortunately for Apple, their latest decision as far as GPS and mapping goes, proved to be a major mistake, which will cost them.

When talking about hardware, Apple will have a hard time competing with companies like Samsung that focus their research and development on it. Apple focus is more oriented toward design, software and ecosystem build up. Soon or later, we can expect Android to be sold on superior products, like Google just did with the Nexus 10.

The decline that you are seing in their stock (AAPL) reflects the concern major investors have with Apple. And I believe it is justified.

Since the stock market is generally a projection of how a company will perform in the future, the main question is: will Apple come out with a revolutionary product?If they don't, there is a chance that history could repeat itself.

Another major problem that is seriously threatening Apple future is software development. Android is becoming exponentially more popular to the point that iOS might become irrelevant. Android can be found in a very wide variety of products, that ranges from smart phones, tv, tablets, pc, portable pc, pc-on-a-sticks to custom boards and integrated board system that can make use of affordable Chinese made (and designed!) electronic and an open OS. We are talking about a 5 to 1 ratio (Android versus iOS) today, which is soon to become a 8 to 1 or 9 to 1 ratio due to the booming of electronic start up in China (who only rely on Android). The impact, long term, will a much faster development of applications for Android. Which will ultimately force developers to abandon iOS (like it happened on the PC market).

As of today, there is no clear product news release from Apple that would hint that any such innovative product is in the wings. Until then, Apple will slowly decline, which might not be in the consumers best interest. An Android monopoly would not be any better than an iOS monopoly.

Nothing touches the iPhone 5 or iPad (very curious to see the 4th gen benchmarks) right now, not even close. Leapfrogging them in performance will also be difficult given that the A6 leapfrogged their own hardware that others are still playing catch-up with. The S3 also has an inferior display (unless you're blessed to not see the Pentile pattern and don't mind oversaturated color profiles) and about half the iPhone 5's battery life with LTE browsing.

Apple has been doing a great job with their hardware design, the fastest and best hardware without compromising size, weight, or battery life.

Yup, mad as hell. You can't bring facts into a discussion so you make posts like this as always. Why else wouldn't I think you're an angry little man?

Also, it just occurred to me that Android fans should be mad at Samsung for charging what they do for the S3. It is slower, cheaply made, with inferior displays, yet it costs about as much as an iPhone 5. It seems overpriced to me given all of its relative deficiencies, they should really drop its price down further. Maybe they charge more because its bigger, but that doesn't make sense since packing more power into a smaller package usually results in a higher price.

Ad hominem attacks against objective facts certainly says that you're mad. Why else would you jump on people to defend inferior things with no backup other than name-calling? You have nothing else to help yourself other than that.

If your facts were objective you would have mentioned the removable battery, the larger screen, the hi res screen, micro sd, NFC, and a far superior OS and all the other things the S3 has that the iPhone lacks.

it is good hardware although very undersized. But really the OS is just getting old. IOS6 should really be called IOS 3.4

The high res screen isn't much of an improvement when it is a pentile screen with fewer subpixels than a "lower" res display in an iPhone, thus resulting in visual artifacts and fuzzy looking text. Ditto goes for their poor color calibration, oversaturated, too much contrast, and inconsistent between phones. With the premium they charge you'd think that they could individually color calibrate those displays and get them to sRGB.

Removable batteries and SD cards are nice, but with those you add size. There is no way to get those features into something as small as an iPhone, and its the same reason why the Nexus 7 and Kindle don't have those either. My first generation Kindle had expandable battery and SD card expansion. You know what, taking them away and making the device smaller was well worth the trade, and the same applies here. They are just not valuable to me, making the device smaller is, but I understand if other people want to compromise size for physical expansion. I never carried spare batteries with my laptops or phones before all this, I went for products with the best battery life instead. Carrying around more crap isn't for me.

I think its a dead end feature in the long run since battery life and storage will continue to increase as size decreases. An iPhone also gets you double the LTE browsing time and almost double the wifi browsing time of an S3, so no need to carry around spare batteries in the first place.

As for the OS getting old, my main complaints are skeumorphism in certain apps (calendar, podcasts), but Ive taking over software UI should fix those very quickly. Otherwise it has a solid feature set and is by far the most efficient OS out there. Efficiency is one reason why it squeezes faster application performance with SoCs clocked 30% slower. Under the hood it is still a beast, so I'm fine with it. Being the #1 target development platform also helps with my decision.

Again, these are reasons why I currently use it. If larger screens or physical keyboards matter then I totally understand why you'd get another device, those are totally legit.

Not only is crApple's stock falling at nearly terminal velocity but they are losing battle after battle in the court room. Not only that, customer loyality is in a rapid decline. The sheep are finally realizing that nothing coming from crApple is truly "innovative" anymore and are getting upgrade fatigue. You know this as well but you are just way too deep into your PR job and fanboyish ways.

I REALLY REALLY hate to use one of your sayings, although you say it sarcastically, but "Apple are doomed"

LOL... Not that Apple isn't perfeclty healthy financially, they are fine and will still make insane profits, but Tony's insistence that they will keep climbing at the rate they were for the past few years and hit $1000 is a laugher and a half... No, Apple has peaked, the competition has caught up, and now surpassed them and now Apple only sees Google dust and is copying features from Android.

Apple, it's time to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new, or do what you have always done in the past and re-invent something that already exists. =)

Of course Apple will continue to remain extremely profitable for the foreseeable future. However, they ARE afraid of losing market share. What do you think will happen when iOS owns ~10% of the market and Android owns ~90%? Developers will be flocking to Android. Apple feels deja vu. Its happened to them before in the desktop PC space, they're deathly afraid of it happening to them again.

They're afraid because they know that the majority of the market is already choosing Android. They fear that without a ban on their competitor's products that they will be relegated to a minority in a market they once dominated.

Apple has three options to regain market dominance:1) Come out with a revolutionary product2) Out-innovate their competitors3) Patent troll and try to ban the competition

Option 1 doesn't seem plausible without a visionary leader (such as the late Steven P. Jobs). They don't seem to be able to do option 2 and so they've selected option 3.

Product diversification. Instead of selling only the iPhones 4/4S/5, what about a real midrange phone like the Samsung Galaxy Ace series? Or going even cheaper, down to the $200-range? Non-subsidized of course!

Of course you don't earn as much money with cheaper phones, but you get market share.

As you already have pointed out, if they continue with their strategy, they constantly will lose market share.

So either they come up with a new strategy for this changed environment, or they start their decline.

Many people are hoping that Apple would come out with devices that would target the $200 and sub $200 market. This is just not going to happen, because it goes against Apple pricing politics and would actually alienate the Apple fan base. Furthermore, if you are invested in Apple, you are looking for Apple to maintain its profit margin, even if it means losing some market shares.The same hold true about opening iOS to encourage wider adoption. It might seem like a necessary move to counter Android but it goes against the politic of the company.

Apple has proven that its fan base will carry it for a while, no matter what the competition comes up with. This is one of the main reason the Ipad mini has been priced so high in comparison to Nook and Nexus lines.

It is important to remember that even during its worst years, Apple maintained a politic of somewhat overpriced items and closed OS. Apple fan based has saved the company in the past, it will probably do it again.

Apple's strength is in their marketing. They probably spend as much there as in their R & D. Yes, they do incremental increases on purpose. But it never stops people from lining up to get the latest. I personally will get a Note 2 in a couple of weeks. Big people need big phones. I believe that foxconn is having trouble producing iphone 5s.

Even though you were down voted, presumably for going against the fans, I'm actually going to agree that comparing the S3 sales in any way with the 4S just doesn't really make any sense. The data is irrelevant. It's a generation behind as well as on a technical level at least two generations behind.

While I dont really care about what sold more, other than that I want to see competition, which means I also dont care about whether it beat the iphone 4s, but this also comes about since everytime that andoid vs apple is brought up, every Apple Fanboy on here exclaims that it does not matter OS vs OS, it only matter on a phone vs phone option. Now when it is the best selling single phone from Samsung beating the single best selling phone from apple in the same quarter, all of a sudden that does not matter either.

Either device vs device matters, or it doesn't, can't pick and choose whenever it helps your argument or you loose credibility and are just trolling. Right now it does not matter that the S3 beat the 4S cause it is 1 year old, but next quarter if the Iphone 5 beats the s3 (not even sure on that) it will be everything to certain Apple mouth breathers (even though the S3 will be very old news in the Andoid world having been replaced by several other devices in that time).

I personnally do not own stock in any company (wish I had bought some apple stock a few years ago) and do not care about how much either company makes as long as there is competition (prefferentially at the store instead of the courtroom). As a consumer I want choice, and want to be able to do what I want with a device I bought, which is why I personnally chose android, but that does not mean somebody else is stupid for purchasing something else, just not my cup of tea.

Personally I would not be caught dead with an iPhone (regardless of number). My SG3 gives me far more of what I want in a superphone for less money. It's a no-brainer for me.

I'll let the folks that really don't want to venture outside Apple's closed little world have their iPhones and watch them drool all over themselves as I stream Hi-Def movies onto my 4.8" screen with it's burly quad processor cores smooth as butter. Hell I don't even need a magnifying glass to watch it!

Oh, and never mind that I have 64GB of internal storage, but I can pop in any of a dozen 64GB MicroSD cards that I have lying around to double it. And when (not 'if', but WHEN) that Lithium Ion battery starts losing capacity, well, it is simple matter to get a brand new one off just about any cell phone etailer cheap and pop it in without voiding the warranty with a can opener.

Nope. iPhones are for pu$$ys with way too much money burning holes in their pockets. Real men use Android!

I make $82h while I'm traveling the world. Last week I worked by my laptop in Rome, Monti Carlo and finally Paris…This week I'm back in the USA. All I do are easy tasks from this one cool site. check it out,Fox92DOtc om